Brush holder attachment for paint pails and the like



April 27, 1954 HEDGLQN 2,676,730

BRUSH HOLDER ATTACHMENT FOR PAINT FAILS AND THE LIKE:

Filed ocf. 7, 1950 TIE 3 M INVENTOR.

Patented Apr. 27, 1 954 BRUSH HOLDER ATTACHMENT FOR PAINT PAILS AND THE LIKE Mead Hedglon, Syracuse, N. Y.

Application October 7, 1950, Serial N 0. 188,972

2 Claims.

1 ihis invention relates to an attachment for pant pails, or cans, and the like, for holding brushes, and other tools, and has for its object an attachment, or a brush holder, which is readily firmly applied to and removable from the pail, or container, without the use of fastening members, and which provides a straight wiping edge for the brushes.

The invention consists in the novel features and in the combinations and constructions hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In describing this invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which like characters designate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is an isometric view of the holder attachment.

Figures 2 and 3 are respectively a plan view and a side elevation of the attachment applied to a paint pail, the pail being shown as partly broken away in Figure 3.

The attachment comprises a shallow fiat troughlike or shelf-like body having a rigid depending angular flange at one end which has tangs at its lateral edges located, when the attachment is applied to a pail, to extend under the internal flange at the top of the pail or engage the cylindrical wall of the pail, that is, to either hook under the flange or engage the cylindrical wall, or to'both hook under the flange and engage the cylindrical wall, and at least one bracket or brace having an edge opposed to but spaced from the flange in position to slidably fulcrum on the edge of the pail, or the bead surrounding the top edge of the pail while the attachment is being applied to the pail and to press along its edge on the cylindrical wall of the pail when the attachment is in final osition.

P designates the conventional cylindrical paint pail having an internal annular flange F at its upper end in which the cover or lid (not shown) fits, and also an external bead B around its upper end.

i designate the troughlike body and 2 the angular flange at the end of the body I. 3 desighates the tangs at the ends of the flanges, these being usually flexible and resilient. As here shown, there is one brace or bracket 4 and this depends from the intermediate portion of the body i midway between the side edges of the body with its edge 5 opposed to and spaced from the flange 2. The bracket is formed with snap catch means as a notch 6 for snapping under the bead B of the pail.

. In operation, the attachment is applied by first holding the shelf-like body upright and inclined out of the vertical and inserting the end thereof formed with the flange 2 into the paint pail P, and then the body is swung downwardly toward horizontal position, the front edge 5 of the bracket s, during this operation, slidably fulcruming on the outer edge of the external bead B around the top of the pail, this fulcruming operation causing the shelf-like body I and the flange 2 to be shifted radially outward of the pail so that the tangs 3 either hook under the flange F of the pail and engage the inner face of the wall of the pail, or do both hooking under the flange F and engage the side walls of the pail. The body I continues to be swung downwardly until the edge 5 of the bracket 4 presses against the wall of the pail and compresses but not necessarily flexes the tangs 3, and the flange 2 assumes a position like the chord of an arc of the cylindrical wall of the pail. When the body is so swung downwardly to nearly horizontal position, the bracket snaps into engagement under the bead B and thus firmly secures the attachment to the pail. The attachment is removed by the reverse of these operations. When the attachment is thus secured to the pail, the shelf-like body can serve as a rest for the paint brush, or other tools, and the inner edge of the body at which the flange 2 is located provides a straight wiping edge for the brush so that the paint on the edge of the brush is distributed fairly evenly throughout the bristles of the brush. Also the shelf-like body, because of the flanges along its sides, serves as a shallow trough to cause any paint on the body to drain back into the pail.

What I claim is:

1. A brush holder for cylindrical paint pails of the type having an inwardly extending rim comprising a body formed from a blank of sheet material, said body having a flat plate portion adapted to be positioned horizontally on the rim of the pail and being bent downwardly at its inner end to form a flange extending parallel to the axis of the pail, said flange being provided at its ends with resilient tangs extending in the plane of the flange and terminating at their upper edges below the plane of said plate portion of the body for yieldingly engaging the inner surface of the side wall of the pail below the rim thereof, and a bracket depending from the underside of said plate portion ofthe body, said bracket being located medial of the side edges of said plate portion and being spaced outwardly relative to the intermediate portion of said flange to engage the outer surface of the side wall of the pail and hold 3 said tangs against the inner surface of the side wall of the pail.

2. A brush holder for cylindrical paint pails of the type having an inwardly extending rim comprising a body formed from a blank of sheet material, said body having a flat plate portion adapted to be positioned horizontally on the rim of the pail and being bent downwardly at its inner end to form a flange extending parallel to the axis of the pail, said flange being provided at its ends with resilient tangs extending in the plane of the flange and terminating at their upper edges below the plane of said plate portion of the body for yieldingly engaging the inner surface of the side wall of the pail below the rim thereof, and a bracket depending from said plate portion of the body medial of the side edges thereof, said bracket being in the form of a fiat plate arranged vertically and extending radially from the pail with its edge confronting the side wall of the pail being so spaced from the intermediate portion of said flange as to cam over the edge of the pail when the body is swung from an inclined position to a horizontal position and thus shift the body radially outward of the pail to compress and hold said tanks against the inner surface of the pail, and said bracket being formed on its confronting edge with a bead-receiving notch in proximity to said plate portion of the body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,848,450 Williamson Mar. 8, 1932 2,469,864 Craft et a1. May 10, 1949 2,535,260 Braswell Dec. 26, 1950 2,542,737 Vogel Feb. 20, 1951 2,567,326 Entsminger Sept. 11, 1951 2,578,233 Entsminger Dec. 11, 1951 

